Chapter 5

High heels clicked on the floor, producing a series of dull echoes in the vast space. The woman was alone, and her temporary partner had vanished without a trace.

This was the left side of the factory, the largest part of the hall, connected to the changing room, toilet, and two small rest rooms through a short corridor.

Zhang Shuya faced the camera, her expression no longer as relaxed as it was at the beginning. She walked forward, looking around cautiously: "How can Fang Rui take almost ten minutes to use the toilet..."

After waiting a while longer, she couldn't stay idle.

The hall had been cluttered with debris since the start of the test, and there were too many places to hide the batteries. She and Fang Rui hadn't finished searching the hall yet, even though it had been nearly forty-five minutes since the test began.

She recalled the human head she had seen in a broken machine while picking up a battery, feeling a bit uneasy.

The props from the company were too realistic, with blinking eyes and a tongue that could extend.

That tongue was so long, it reminded her of the factory owner who had hanged himself at the Qingyuan Pharmaceutical Factory.

It was strange; she had played in so many haunted houses before, some of which were quite terrifying, but she had never felt this uncomfortable before.

Zhang Shuya took a deep breath, took out a sweet candy to boost her sugar levels, and tried to cheer herself up.

She raised the camera, pointing it at the path ahead, and began to narrate as if she were a live-streaming host: "The difficulty of the test is greater than I imagined. The batteries are well hidden, and I've only found one so far."

"Fang Rui went to the toilet and hasn't come back yet. The other four are far away, and I'm alone in the hall... Wait, did you hear something?"

She lowered her voice and focused on the sudden "thud" sounds.

The sound was faint, seemingly coming from the direction of the toilet.

"Is... it Fang Rui? Did he forget to bring toilet paper?" Zhang Shuya hesitated, taking a few steps toward the toilet but then stopping.

"Is he just playing with me? He's been gone for so long, could he be trapped inside?"

After waiting a bit longer, listening to the increasingly urgent sounds, Zhang Shuya gritted her teeth and walked toward the toilet.

She passed through the corridor connecting the hall, and as she got closer, the thuds became more piercing.

She began to suspect that this might be another intentionally set up scare.

"Fang Rui, are you there? Are you inside? It's Zhang Shuya."

She stood in front of the toilet door, hesitantly leaning in to look inside.

The abandoned factory toilet had cubicles, and the door was closed, so she didn't have to worry about seeing anything awkward.

However, after her voice echoed and faded, no one responded from inside the toilet.

She looked again and, from the vibration of the door, determined that the knocking was coming from the last cubicle.

This was even stranger.

Given their current situation, Fang Rui wouldn't go to the last cubicle to use the toilet.

He wasn't the type to seek thrills, so this didn't make sense. Moreover, Fang Rui wouldn't ignore her.

If it wasn't Fang Rui, who was knocking?

"Hmph, do you really think I'm that easy to scare?" The image of the haunted house designer's victorious face flashed in her mind. She stepped forward in her high heels, "thud, thud, thud," and tried to open the last cubicle's door.

The door wouldn't budge.

She deliberately said, "Is someone inside? Did you run out of toilet paper or fall in? Do you need me to bring you some?"

The only response was the increasingly rapid "thud, thud, thud."

The door of this toilet had a gap at the bottom.

Zhang Shuya took out her flashlight, intending to use it to see through the gap, but it flickered twice, made a "buzz" sound, and then went out in front of her surprised eyes.

No way!

The props could be used to scare people, but the flashlight was one she had brought from home. Could it really break at this moment by coincidence?

She felt a nagging doubt. The elders at home had said, "If you walk by the river often, you will eventually get your shoes wet." Could it be... that this place is really haunted?

"No, impossible, it's just psychological." She liked playing in haunted houses and watching horror movies because she knew ghosts didn't exist, which gave her the interest to explore the truth.

To tell her there are real ghosts? She didn't believe it!

Putting away the broken flashlight, Zhang Shuya, with a hint of defiance, knelt down, leaned forward, and used her hand to prop up her face to avoid getting dirty. She held the camera with night vision and squinted to look through the gap in the door.

Strangely, as soon as she lowered her head, the knocking stopped.

The camera's view showed a clean gap, only the bottom of the toilet and the trash can.

There was nothing.

But nothing was strange. If no one was there, who was knocking?

"It's not the company's doing, it must be a trap!" Zhang Shuya whispered to herself and stood up.

At that moment, footsteps were heard outside the toilet.

Zhang Shuya was startled and turned around to see a corner of a coat behind the wall. The corner lingered for a moment, and she tentatively called out, "Fang Rui?"

It seemed to be deliberately avoiding her. The corner moved and disappeared behind the wall.

Although Zhang Shuya didn't want to admit it, she now had a reason to stay away from this eerie toilet. She whispered to the camera, "Maybe it's Fang Rui at the door, I'll go look for him."

She hurried out of the toilet, following the direction of the coat, and entered the nearby changing room.

As soon as she left, the toilet cubicle emitted a flushing sound, and the door that wouldn't open was gently pushed. A pale hand suddenly extended from the gap, spreading its fingers in the air, not touching anyone, and seemed a bit angry.

After a while, it quietly withdrew and closed the door.

Zhang Shuya wouldn't know what she had narrowly avoided. She looked at the rows of labeled cabinets and the four long benches in the center of the room, feeling bewildered.

Where were the people?

A good team effort had turned into a solo mission.

She murmured to herself, "Fang Rui is really unreliable... If I had known, I would have chosen Zhao Yijiu as my partner. At least he wouldn't leave a girl alone like this."

"Bang!"

The response was the changing room door being slammed shut, which truly frightened Zhang Shuya. In such a quiet environment, even the sound of a heavy rain was muffled, and the sudden loud noise made her heart skip a beat.

She let out a short scream and ran to the door, pounding on it, "Who's out there? Damn it, you even locked the door..."

After a tense five minutes, she finally stopped, realizing that whoever was outside wouldn't open the door for her.

She decided to search for batteries in the changing room, thinking that if she found them, she might be able to leave.

She checked her phone; it was already 12:57.

She really needed to find the batteries quickly, or her camera would run out of power, and she would be eliminated.

She immediately opened every cabinet she could, using the night vision to search inside.

"Nothing..."

"Nothing here either..."

"This doesn't make sense. In such a large place, there should be at least three or four batteries. Has Fang Rui already searched here!?"

She searched the most remote cabinets but still found nothing.

1:01 AM.

The camera's battery ran out, and it automatically shut down.

"Five more minutes..." She broke out in a cold sweat and pursed her lips.

She began to suspect that some people in the company's HR department had predetermined the new hires, making others accompany them.

They might have been told the battery locations and suggested splitting up to make it easier to eliminate others?

The one who initially suggested pairing up was... Fang Rui.

He used the excuse of going to the toilet and then disappeared!

"Damn it." Seeing no hope of finding the batteries and being locked in the changing room, she lost her composure and cursed.

She would expose this rigged test as soon as it was over!

The five minutes passed quickly, and the atmosphere in the dark changing room became even more oppressive.

Zhang Shuya sat on a bench, already eliminated, and decided to take a nap.

Suddenly, something cold touched her ankle, making her skin crawl.

"Who!?"

Her flashlight was broken, and the camera was off, so she used her phone's flashlight to shine around.

After she screamed, the thing that touched her ankle didn't leave but instead grabbed her!

It was a hand!

Zhang Shuya's hair stood on end. Upon touching the smooth skin, she realized it wasn't a prop and screamed.

A strong pull came from her ankle, and she was dragged to the ground. Her phone flew out and hit the wall, illuminating a small corner.

Something climbed up her leg and finally pressed coldly on her eyes.

"No, don't..." Zhang Shuya panicked, struggling violently but was held in place. A finger pried open her eyelids, exposing her eyeballs.

She saw clearly what was in front of her.

"No, no, no!!!"

Plop—

Two black beads, accompanied by thick blood, fell to the ground with a thud.

...

Twenty minutes earlier.

Yu Xing and Zhao Yijiu didn't stay long in the data display room. After analyzing the situation, they went to Office 02 and Office 03 to look for batteries. To avoid encountering ghosts, they didn't take the batteries but noted their locations for later use.

Then, they followed the path back to the Qingyuan Pharmaceutical Factory's main gate.

It's worth mentioning that although their phones showed everything was normal and had a signal, the calls they made never went through, and their messages on social media received a red exclamation mark.

When Yu Xing tried each function on his phone, he had already anticipated this situation after realizing there were ghosts, but he still made a sad face under Zhao Yijiu's disapproving gaze.

He complained, "Why can ghosts interfere with electronic devices? Does this support some people's magnetic field theory? During the final exam, we wouldn't need a signal jammer; just put a ghost in the hallway, and it would be perfect."

"Students who can still write their exams in such a situation, I admire them." Zhao Yijiu regretted joining this boring hypothetical conversation, wondering how he got infected by Yu Xing's nonsense.

When they passed through the hall and reached the main gate, Yu Xing's frustration reached its peak.

"I knew it! As expected!"

The main gate wouldn't open. Yu Xing fiddled with the wire for a while and concluded, "It's not locked, but there's another reason it won't open."

"It's probably sealed by the abnormal power of a ghost." Zhao Yijiu kicked the door with a swift motion, but it didn't budge.

He stopped trying and instead looked down, frowning.

Two seconds later, his eyes flashed. "You said Assistant Hao had no footprints, which you noticed at the main gate?"

"Huh? Yeah, Assistant Hao only moved around this area." Yu Xing was still trying to figure out the door lock and answered absentmindedly.

Zhao Yijiu's eyes narrowed, a sense of absurdity confirming his wild guess.

He knew where the feeling of unease came from.

Yu Xing had always acted very afraid of ghosts, but his actions never showed any intention to avoid them, like someone who keeps saying, "I'm going to fail again" but ends up topping the class.

This was absurd—Yu Xing had never told him that Assistant Hao had no footprints.

Zhao Yijiu realized that the footprints leading to the main gate were only his and Yu Xing's. He remembered that at midnight, Yu Xing had asked Assistant Hao if he was cold and watched him leave, trying to get some information.

He didn't expect to get a reaction.

Yu Xing's subconscious response indicated that he had indeed noticed Assistant Hao had no footprints at that time!

So, the question was, who doesn't leave footprints? The footprints of the other applicants were scattered everywhere, and the only one who could leave no trace in so much dust... could only be a ghost. Yu Xing knew Assistant Hao was a ghost from the beginning but showed no abnormal behavior.

His previous display of fear couldn't be explained.

And his decision to go home after learning about the ghosts was also contradictory.

Considering Yu Xing's calm and panicked behavior, his ability to extract and analyze key points...

Zhao Yijiu's thoughts became clear. In summary, it was likely... Yu Xing was acting!

Was he playing possum?

He stared at Yu Xing's back, pondering his intentions.